Mideast parties to meet every 2 weeks

At their first direct talks Thursday, Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to meet every two weeks during the coming year to work out parameters for a peace agreement, Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell told journalists Thursday.

“The parties themselves have suggested and agreed that the logical way to proceed is to try to reach a framework agreement first,” Mitchell told journalists at the State Department Thursday, defining it as “not an interim agreement and more detailed than a declaration of principles but less than a full-fledged treaty.”

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mitchell will attend the next set of talks in the region on Sept. 14-15, Mitchell said. In the future, the U.S. will attend some of the talks, if not all of them, he added.

Mitchell said that first the full American, Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams met this morning, followed by a meeting including only Clinton, Mitchell, Abbas and Netanyahu. Later, Abbas and Netanyahu held a one-on-one session, while their advisers met simultaneously.

Mitchell would give few details on the substance of what was discussed, including on whether the subject of Israeli settlements came up. He also said the talks this morning focused more on process than substance.

“In terms of the process going forward, that will be resolved by the parties,” Mitchell said. “You cannot separate process from substance. We have had extensive discussions with them on that and those will continue. Our goal is to resolve all of the core issues within one year.”

It was the latest development in a day that began with Clinton delivering a Foggy Bottom pep talk but warning that the U.S. won't "impose a solution" on parties deeply divided over the issues of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and Hamas attacks on the Jewish state.

Clinton didn’t soft-pedal the troubles that lie immediately ahead — especially the opening dispute over the lapsing Israeli moratorium on settlers building new homes in the West Bank — but suggested the willingness of Israelis and Palestinians to risk talks amid widespread pessimism was in itself a reason for guarded optimism.

“To those who criticize this process, who stand on the sidelines and say ‘no,’ I ask you to join us in this effort,” said Clinton, speaking at the kickoff of talks in the State Department's Benjamin Franklin Room, flanked by Netanyahu and Abbas.